Big data, aside from being an industry buzzword, is also a crucial part of determining the best method of approaching a marketing campaign. With such a massive volume of consumer data at hand, businesses can try to tailor their campaigns to match what the results suggest. However, knowing which big data insights to use is a bit like finding a needle in a haystack.
There are several metrics a business could use to help them align their marketing, but for each one of those, dozens of others don’t benefit marketing decision-making. Ten experts from Forbes Agency Council add their opinions on the most critical consumer metrics businesses should focus on when designing marketing campaigns.
Members share some of the most important consumer metrics for your marketing campaigns.
Photos courtesy of the individual members
1. Conversion Rates
In all of big data, conversion is the new position. While there are plenty of vanity metrics out there — likes, shares, traffic — like talk, it is all cheap. The only thing that matters is those who make it to the end of the customer journey and buy, contact or commit. Top- and middle-funnel metrics are supportive knowledge only; getting people to commit to a conversion event is the whole game. – Michael Simonetti, Andmine.com
2. Cost Of Retention
We’d bet on the cost of retention. In the age of so many direct-to-consumer brands with big flashy campaigns, influencer and otherwise, brands are getting better at drawing people to try something. But it’s hard to keep those customers when a new brand pops up every day. So we’re advising our clients to focus on long-term strategies for retention in addition to first-time awareness. – Mae Karwowski, Obvious.ly
3. Consumers’ Income
Every brand has its own price range, so having data about a customer’s income plays a big part in targeting the right audience. For example, the perfect audience for a luxury jewelry brand with products in a range of $2,000 to $10,000 will be people making $250,000 a year and above, and the perfect audience for a jewelry brand with products in a range of $20 to $200 will be people making $50,000 to $150,000 a year. – Vishal Jain, Sunshy Group Of Companies
4. Engagement
Engagement is key — by way of time spent, bounce rates, shares, etc. Why? Because consumer engagement is the scarcest resource. People may be quick to convert given an imminent reason but keeping them is very difficult. – Camille Nicita, Gongos, Inc.
5. Customer Lifetime Value
Measuring the value of a customer over their lifetime with the brand is a powerful way to check the health of the business and fine-tune marketing campaigns. Using statistical models that account for your brand’s unique variables like order amount, frequency of purchases and recency on an individual basis, allows marketers to measure value creation to stakeholders off one critical number. – Jacob Cook, Tadpull
6. Intent
Over the years, marketers have created cohorts based on demographics, lifestyle data and RFM or transactional data to effectively target consumers. Today, the most important consumer data we see is intent data. Who is in the market today, raising their hand, showing intent to purchase your product? These are the consumers to reach out to. The consumers showing intent are the ones who will respond. – Lori Paikin, NaviStone®
7. Cultural Listening
Cultural listening and social intelligence in real time is one of the most important mediums to support activation with dynamic relevance today. What people are saying and how they are feeling in real time is gold for brands today. Much data is based on statistical assumption whilst the flow of real facts in real time can help brands spend more on less. – Alexei Orlov, MTM
8. Life Events Data
For brands to convert shoppers into buyers, they must reach customers at the right point in their purchase journey. Life event data can provide valuable insights on shoppers who are interested in buying specific products. For example, brands that sell lawn equipment would likely target people who recently purchased a home. Matching life events with the appropriate products can create new sales. – Stephanie Shreve, PowerChord
9. New-To-Brand Metric
Amazon recently started tracking a new-to-brand metric. This is a great metric as it identifies consumers who are the most willing to try new products and services. This metric can be extremely useful to emerging brands. – T. Maxwell, eMaximize
10. Previous Buying And Browsing History
The most telling consumer data metric is previous buying and browsing history. Knowing what piques a consumer’s interest and the information taken in prior to and during the decision to buy are critical for the growth of a product and/or company. This helps marketing and sales teams understand when and how to reach their audience and the information necessary to turn a prospect into a customer. – Jodi Amendola, Amendola Communications
